[wdfifteen]

I'm always finding myself in these ethical dilemmas. I hate killing things - even snakes and spiders. But there comes a time ... a snake in my house? Dead. Raccoons killing my chickens? Dead.
We have a squirrel problem. They get on the deck and wreck the bird feeders, get into the BBQ grill and even chew the seals on the smoker to get inside. This week there were as many as 8 on my deck at once. I've tried all kinds of deterrents but nothing works for long.
So I started shooting them.
I hate it. I used .22 bird shot when they were jumping around on the bird feeders and it blows them off the bird feeders and they fall into the ravine under my deck and disappear - I don't see what happens to them. But there are so many now and they are so brazen they just come up on the deck like they own the place. Today I started using LRs on them because they just sit there tearing up my stuff and dare me to do something about it and I figured a bullet would finish them off fast.
No.
They fall on the deck, jump around, try to run, quiver - basically suffer - until I load another round and finish them.
I hate this.
The only other gun I have that is remotely appropriate is a 16 gauge shotgun that would probably do more damage to the deck than the squirrels do.